SOLIDARITY WITH INJURED ISU PLAYER

A sizable number of senators, staff, doorkeepers, clerks, pages and others sported green Band-Aids above their right eyes in the Iowa Senate on Monday. The St. Patrick's Day bandages -- provided by Sen. Mark Segebart, R-Vail -- were to show solidarity with Georges Niang, an Iowa State University men's basketball player who sustained a cut over his eye that required five stitches to close during a Big 12 semifinal game against Kansas last Friday. The Senate chambers was awash in green on Monday as senators observed the Irish holiday, with Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, using the occasion to don a plaid kilt for the day's proceedings. The House held an abbreviated session Monday without a full contingency of its 100 members. The opening prayer in the House and Senate was a rendition of “American the Beautiful” sung by Grace Mulherin, sister of Michelle Mulherin, a guest from the Irish Parliament in Dublin. Michelle Mulherin also spoke to legislators about the connection between the Ireland and Iowa.